ispace contracts SpaceX for 500 kg Starship lunar cargo

A Japanese lunar exploration company has secured a major contract with SpaceX to deliver cargo to the Moon using the forthcoming Starship rocket, positioning itself as a key logistics provider for a burgeoning lunar economy. Tokyo-based ispace announced on July 8 that it has purchased 500 kilograms of payload capacity on a Starship lunar lander mission scheduled for launch no earlier than 2030.

The $50 million agreement will see ispace develop a Mobile Cargo System, a rover-like platform designed to carry multiple customer payloads from the Starship lander to locations up to several kilometers away on the lunar surface. The company will act as a "Lunar Access Integrator," handling payload integration before launch and operational support after landing. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace, stated that high-capacity, relatively low-cost lunar transport is essential to realizing the sustainable lunar economy his company aims to create.

This partnership extends an existing business relationship, as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets launched ispace's first two lunar landing missions in 2022 and 2025. Both of those missions, carrying the HAKUTO-R rover, successfully reached lunar...